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Ancient Domains Of Mystery, forum overview / Spoilers / Adom is Dead

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Some guy
Registered user
I'm baaaack.


Last page view:

5575 days, 2 hours, 47 minutes and 13 seconds ago.
Posted on Monday, December 08, 2008 at 04:27 (GMT -5)

Despite that, I've finished another game.

I never expected to find myself in this game again, and had already strongly told a couple friends that they couldn't possibly ignite my old addiction. But, these two friends who I used to play Adom with (and who I'm currently living in an apartment with) started talking about the game again, which got me thinking about it. It's possible that they started talking about Adom because I made some passing references to it, and maybe I made those references because of something they said earlier. In any case, it's hard to tell exactly where the blame lies. Anyways, for a few reasons, I decided to load up Adom again - partly because I wanted to see if I would still enjoy it, and partly because I'll do just about anything to avoid work. To my great surprise, I discovered two things:

1. I still had a copy of Adom on this computer.
2. I still had a level 25 druid on this computer.

As soon as I restored that game, the memories started to trickle back into consciousness. I found a high elven druid, named Hippie, standing in front of a 24-gold slot machine, where I had evidently left her when I was too bored to gamble for the cash necessary to harvest a mostly uninteresting casino crop. Her more distant past was completely forgotten, but I luckily had a text file hidden in my Adom folder, containing such helpful information as where to find a good forge. The rest, I was able to deduce from the state of the character. The presence of "Whirlwind" and the absence of most of the guaranteed artifacts reminded me that, because of a tragic series of accidents (and the druidic inability to sacrifice animals) I had been forced to sacrifice Big Punch and several other noble artifacts for a dismal reward. Having "find weakness" in my skill set showed me that I apparently had a spare wish to spend on it - a wish that I found too late to save Khelevastar. My scattered weapon skills showed me that I had started this game with an intent to avoid the use of polearms, which have become uninteresting through overuse, but that resolution was dropped completely upon finding a spear of devastation. Other features of my inventory included a pair of SLB's and Wyrmlance (neither of which have an origin I can be sure of) and the absolute crowning glory of all my possessions: Sun's Messenger. Thanks to my noble elven heritage and quite a bit of luck, I managed to avoid the absolute shit-heap which TB calls the druids' crowning gifts. Finally having a chance to play with this bow is part of the reason why I finished this character now, instead of letting her languish for another few years until a hard-drive wipe would finish her off.

I bought the casino loot, grabbed the RotMC (which is easy to get with a druid), and did some preliminary exploration of the lower CoC until I finally gave into my friend's nagging to go get the minotaur's axe before it was too late. I don't like to touch that dungeon without a good pile of scrolls of magic mapping, so I sized myself up and deemed myself ready for the bug temple. I played this druid like I play all my classes: melee is trained primarily, with at least one well-trained missile weapon and magic for backup. This hasn't failed me yet, and a high DV from high polearms and shields skills, the brutal power of my artifact bow and a good collection of bolts and balls didn't fail me now. My willpower was low (and stayed low for the rest of the game) so I relied on bolts to do most of the killing. Casting "divine wrath" at a diagonal into a room of killer bugs is a great way to kill the bugs that think they're hiding.

At level 27, I entered the maze, trusting my sixth sense, perception and dexterity enough that I only left my most precious perishables behind. I began burning through my scrolls of magic mapping (I believe I had 9 or so), trusting that I wouldn't have to manually explore more than a couple levels before I would finally find the downstairs to level 7. Well, when I reached a level six, took the only other staircase back to a level 5, took the only new staircase back to another level 6, and found that this was a dead end, I consulted a map (http://natrox.ath.cx/adom/improved/maze.gif). From this map, I learned that to reach a fork that could take me to the true level 7, I would have to go all the way back to level 2 - or better yet, level 1. (In terms of the map image, I was stuck on 6b, and the optional staircases above 6b and 5d were not present.) And, thanks to one or two smaller dead ends, my scrolls of magic mapping were gone. It looked like I was going to have to do this the hard way.

In the place of an exact description of subsequent events, I'm going to share a theory of mine. When you enter a maze level, and this level has two down-staircases, these staircases are not yet assigned the levels which they will lead to. This is only decided when you actually hit ">" on one of the stairs. At this point, Adom determines which of the possible lower levels you would rather enter. It then places you on the WRONG one. This would explain why, in every single game, I have to explore the entire dungeon before I end up where I want to be. This also means that, if you want to pass the maze more efficiently, every time that you enter a level with two down staircases, you should descend down one staircase, immediately go back up, and then go down the other one. I invite those reading this to test this theory.

Before finally hitting level 7, I had to enter and explore every single level of that dungeon (except for the level referred to as "5c" on the map, which I only knew to avoid because I entered "4c" from two different directions). As frustrating as that sounds, it really wasn't so bad - luckily, the traps and monsters left me virtually untouched, I suffered no corruptions, and I had a friend watching the entire improbably ordeal over my shoulder - this made it much more fun and much funnier than it would have been otherwise. And, at long last, I was rewarded with the axe! Hurrah.

Continuing through the CoC, I managed to get a moloch armor from a regular moloch. My friend wanted me to use both that and the minotaur's axe. I was actually tempted to switch from spear+shield to the axe, but that alone lowered my DV to 18, which is dangerous enough, and I had to insist that using both together would be suicide. I progressed deeper, temporarily skipping the temples in the hopes that I would get a greater undead vault to play with - a strange thing to hope for, but I like a good challenge, and I definitely had the bow for it. Ultimately, the only greater vault I found was full of giants. While this didn't provide the challenge and experience of a greater undead vault, or the treasure of a dragon vault, it at least served as a safe place to break in my axe. I raised my two-handed weapons skill up a few levels, and learned that what they say is true - the best defense is a good offense. The axe, with its high chance of critical hits, is a very good offense. As for what I found in it: not much. I wore the robes of resistance a little bit, but I usually wanted more specific immunities, and the staff of the archmagi was never wielded.

I did go on to find a threat room full of lich kings, and I realized then that not finding an undead vault might have been for the best. No, the liches didn't give me any trouble - the only problem is that the bow didn't dispatch them satisfactorily quickly. Half of my shots missed, and it took two hits to kill a lich, even when they didn't heal. This may sound good enough for most of you, but when you're expecting an absolutely magnificent slaughter, it's easy to be disappointed. I suppose that this bow would need to be in the hands of an archer to be truly devastating. Having Sun's Messenger wasn't a total waste, though - I ran into two randomly generated emperor liches later on. When I saw the first one, I had the choice to simply ascend to another level and never see it again. But, in great action-hero-esque fashion, I stood my ground. I turned to face him. I fired two volleys through a hole in his summoned defense, and he was dust. When I saw the second lich, a single shot was all it took - it's possible he never even saw me. Both occasions were immensely satisfying.

Throughout this period, I had been occasionally returning to the upper CoC to bless water, to sort through garbage, to mine ores and to train my smithing skill, bought from Glod. I can't recommend smithing strongly enough - it vastly improves your chance at survival, and barely takes any effort if done right. On each trip, I would mine a few ores (until all my picks broke) and then smelt them into ingots. On the next few level ups I would raise my smithing skill until it hit the ceiling, and then I'd make another trip. (Honestly, the biggest hassle in this was pressing ":s" a million times to reach dwarftown - when worms don't want to attack you, they become pestilent hordes.) When my smithing reached 96, I decided this was good enough. In total, I had only mined out about half of one dungeon level, so I carefully decided how best to use my handful of ingots. Iron was split between improving a crown of regeneration and gauntlets of strength {+5}, mithril was used to improve a mithril girdle, adamantium to improve a red dragon scale mail, and eternium to improve a tower shield. All these improvements served to raise my DV with the minotaur axe from 20 to 60 - which is what my DV had been with my previous spear+shield combo. At this point, I stowed my spear of devastation in my backpack and fully embraced my new, somewhat non-druidic weapon choice of the gigantic Axe of the Minotaur Emperor. I couldn't resist the power - the efficiency - of such a weapon any longer.

The temples were very easily cleared, almost entirely with the axe, and are hardly worth mentioning. Despite my long hiatus, I remembered to watch out for the ceiling traps. For the blue dragon caves, I blew the dust off Wyrmlance and quickly descended to the lowest level - there's little point in fully exploring the upper levels when all the loot and experience you could like are at the bottom, and fighting more dragons up above only makes the lowest level harder. My combat on the lowest level is best described as "surgical;" with Wyrmlance, I carefully but quickly killed individual dragons in positions where they couldn't set fire to fresh heaps of treasure, occasionally using very fancy footwork to keep my loot out of harm's way. This might take a little bit more time than acid-balling the fuck out of the place, but you play your way and I'll play mine. Besides, even the great blue wyrms only took about three good stabs. Barney fell to some dragon-slaying arrows, and a few pokes from Wyrmlance for good measure.

Somewhere along the lines, I managed to find a spellbook for improved fireball - or rather, invoked devastation, one of the rare cases where the clerical spell name is superior. Continuing the "surgical" style of combat, I ignored the mana loss and used this to kill the chaos wizards in the mana temple from a distance. The fewer chaos servants summoned, the better. I had to do some equipment juggling to have a light source, death-ray resistance, high DV and high dexterity all at once, but I found a combo that let me drop the archmage with a few humanoid slaying arrows.

On D:49, I learned that with auto-pickup mode on, you can pick up all items that you slide over, even if you don't stop on them. This could be useful if you somehow throw something you really didn't want to lose. My uselessness gift was Protector, which is not at all bad if you're still using shields. At this point, I wasn't.

I've seen D:50 a few too many times for it to really seem like a climax (it's more exciting if you're planning to enter the gate...) but I still put a good ending on a good game. I brought out all my combat abilities for their last appearances, like stage actors taking their final bows. The grunts of the chaos army were hacked to pieces by my favourite new axe; the ghost lords were scattered by magic, and sniped with my bow; the chaos wizards were, once again, destroyed from afar by whatever I could hit them with, and the balors saw me using my rune-covered trident for the first time. With everything on D:50 dead (except for one non-hostile animal, I forget what kind, who I trust to respect his new task as eternal guardian of the chaos gate) I began a ritual of mine - an utterly senseless ritual which dates back to my earliest wins. I looked through all the treasure dropped by D:50 denizens, collected everything nice, drank the last stat-raising potions, read the last equipment-enhancing scrolls, and cleaned the junk out of my inventory - as if there was another adventure to be had, after this one. I like to pretend that when my characters head back home, there's still a long road ahead of them, and it's good to be prepared.

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Screenshot
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Hippie St:41 Le:30 Wi:31 Dx:51 To:50 Ch:17 Ap:21 Ma:41 Pe:35 L+
DV/PV: 69/69 H: 906(906) P: 707(707) Exp: 50/31660214 DrCh Sp: 132
Blessed Bloated
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----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Background Information
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Name: Hippie Race: female High Elf Class: Druid
Eye color: golden Hair color: silver Complexion: light
Height: 5'11" Weight: 112 pounds
Age: 217 (grown-up)
Star sign: Dragon Birthday: 10/Dragon (day 160 of the year)

YOUR HISTORY:
Your parents are travelling adventurers. They are doing moderately
well but are talented enough to survive.
In your childhood you were fascinated by your environment and the
everchanging wonders of the world. You were a very curious and adventurous
child.
During your youth you had a lot of fun playing with other kids of
your age. You always were a natural leader and the center of interest.
As a young adult you were a credit to your family. Your parents
supported your plans and were very understanding. They tried to help you
along your way with all means at their disposal.
You decided to become a Druid.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inventory
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total weight: 25674 stones Carrying capacity: 84383 stones

He: blessed rustproof crown of regeneration [+10, +4] [55s]
Ne: blessed rustproof amulet of life saving [3s]

-Oh yeah, I found two of these, AFTER Khelevastar, naturally.
Thanks to my cautious playing style I never needed either, and
I would be surprised if I had.

Bo: blessed red dragon scale mail (-1, -4) [+6, +14] [220s]
Gi: blessed mithril girdle [+9, +6] [20s]
Cl: blessed cloak of defense [+6, +6] [20s]
RH: blessed axe of the minotaur emperor (+12, 3d20+16) [-6, +4] [1200s]
LH: -
RR: uncursed ring of slaying (+9 melee damage, +6 missile damage) [1s]
LR: uncursed ring of the master cat [+0, +5] {Dx+16} (+16 spd) [1s]
Br: blessed bracers of toughness [+5, +2] {To+7} [10s]
Ga: blessed rustproof gauntlets of strength (-1, +0) [+5, +6] {St+5} [40s]
Bo: blessed seven league boots [+5, +5] [30s]
MW: blessed elven long bow "Sun's Messenger" (+15, +15) [30s]
Mi: bundle of 93 uncursed arrows (+0, 1d6) [186s]
Tl: blessed pick axe (+3, 1d6+4) [75s]


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stuff
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Total weight: 23783 stones Carrying capacity: 84383 stones

Helmets ('[')
uncursed crown of science [+4, +8] {Le+9} [65s]
blessed crown of regeneration [+0, +0] [55s]
uncursed helm of water breathing [+0, +1] [30s]
uncursed eternium cap [+0, +4] [28s]
Armor ('[')
uncursed ancient mummy wrapping [+1, +5] {Ap-8} [60s]
uncursed moloch armor (-8, -16) [-30, +50] {Dx-17} (-17 spd) [15000s]

-I didn't carry this around, but actually just collected it on my way
out of the dungeon. Hey, it's a good souvenir.

blessed robes of resistance (-4, -4) [+3, +12] {To+5} [60s]
Shields ('[')
blessed tower eternium shield (-1) [+17, +4] [70s]
uncursed medium obsidian shield "Protector" [+20, +4] {To+2} [46s]
Gauntlets ('[')
blessed elemental gauntlets (-1, +0) [+0, +3] [10s]
uncursed thick gauntlets (+0, -1) [+2, +4] [15s]
uncursed thick gauntlets (-1, -2) [+3, +2] [15s]
Cloaks ('[')
blessed cloak of invisibility (-1, +0) [+1, +0] [30s]
uncursed cloak of protection [+0, +3] [20s]
Girdles ('[')
uncursed adamantium girdle [+0, +8] [18s]
blessed eternium girdle [+0, +4] [12s]
Boots ('[')
blessed seven league boots [+1, +0] [30s]
uncursed boots of the slow shuffle (+1, +1) [-6, +0] (-40 spd) [20s]

-I used these to get more experience out of a room full of
great karmic wyrms. They died from magic missiles, shot
from very far away.

uncursed eternium boots [+0, +7] [55s]
Necklaces (''')
uncursed amulet of petrification resistance [3s]
blessed black torc [+4, +2] (+10 spd) [3s]
blessed necklace of the eye [3s]
blessed ankh [3s]
uncursed amulet of balance [3s]
uncursed amulet of perseverance {Wi+3} [3s]
uncursed amulet of protection from undead [3s]
uncursed amulet of free action [3s]
uncursed amulet of water breathing [3s]
uncursed amulet of death ray resistance [7s]
uncursed amulet of life saving [3s]
Bracers (',')
blessed bracers of toughness [+0, +0] {To+5} [10s]
uncursed bracers of resistance [+0, +0] [10s]
One-handed weapons ('(')
blessed eternium warhammer (+0, 4d3+8) [29s]
uncursed pick axe (+3, 1d6+1) [75s]
uncursed sword of Nonnak (+2, 4d3+2) [+2, +2] {Wi+5} [80s]
blessed dwarven rune axe "Rolf's Companion" (+3, 3d6+6) [+4, +4] {To+3}
heap of 2 uncursed pick axes (+0, 1d6+1) [150s]
blessed rustproof spear of devastation (+3, 5d8+8) [50s]
uncursed pick axe (-1, 1d6+1) [75s]
uncursed eternium spear (+2, 2d8+8) [25s]
uncursed phase dagger (+0, 1d4+2) [5s]
uncursed club of hunting (+0, 1d6) [30s]
uncursed black rune-covered dagger "Sting" (+8, 3d4) [+4, +1] [10s]
uncursed pick axe (+2, 1d6+1) [75s]
uncursed pick axe (+2, 1d6+4) [75s]
uncursed black rune-covered dagger "Needle" (+8, 3d4) [+4, +1] [10s]

-Sting and Needle never got used - too many other neat weapons
to play with.

Two-handed weapons ('(')
blessed rune-covered halberd "Wyrmlance" (+15, 4d8+10) [-2, +0] [50s]
uncursed barbed trident of hunting (+3, 3d5+7) [70s]
uncursed staff of the archmagi (+5, 5d2+2) [+9, +0] {Ma+10} [40s]
blessed rune-covered trident (+6, 3d12+6) [+4, +4] {Dx+12} [80s]
Missile weapons ('}')
uncursed rune-covered sling "Whirlwind" (+12, +12) [3s]
uncursed light crossbow of accuracy (+11, +3) [70s]

-It's too bad I never got Farslayer - I really wanted the trifecta.

Missiles ('/')

//snip

uncursed broken penetrating boomerang (+2, 2d4+1) [20s]

-I'm sure some of you would kill for this. I, however, never even
bothered to fix it.

//snip

Tools (']')

//snip

Rings ('=')
uncursed ring of mental stability [+0, +4] {Le+1} [1s]
blessed ring of the fish [1s]
uncursed ring of teleport control [1s]
blessed ring of the High Kings [+2, +3] [1s]
uncursed ring of regeneration [1s]
heap of 2 uncursed rings of ice [2s]
uncursed ring of doom [1s]
uncursed ring of invisibility [1s]
blessed ring of djinni summoning [1s]

-I found two of these, I believe. I'm quite sure that the first was spent
on find weakness, as I possessed that skill when I loaded this save
file and I already had RoDS in my list of identified objects. I
definitely found it after Khelevastar, then, or else I would have saved
him for the SoCR. This second ring was found too late for me to still
need anything, so here it is.

uncursed ring of slaying (+9 melee damage, +6 missile damage) [1s]
Wands ('\')

\\snip

-Unfortunately, I never got the mana battery corruption, so this pile of
wands was much bigger than it needed to be. Instead, I got corruptions
like stiff muscles, poison hands and apish appearance about a million
times each.

Potions ('!')
heap of 22 uncursed potions of booze [88s]
uncursed potion of longevity [4s]
heap of 18 uncursed potions of invisibility [72s]
heap of 2 uncursed potions of confusion [4s]
heap of 5 uncursed potions of exchange [20s]
heap of 13 uncursed potions of healing [52s]
heap of 5 uncursed potions of boost perception [10s]
heap of 6 uncursed potions of boost toughness [12s]
heap of 17 uncursed potions of carrot juice [68s]
heap of 2 blessed potions of ultra healing [4s]
blessed potion of healing [4s]
heap of 5 uncursed potions of balance [20s]
heap of 5 blessed potions of poison [20s]
heap of 2 blessed potions of visibility [8s]
blessed potion of raw mana [2s]
blessed potion of boost strength [2s]
uncursed potion of youth [4s]
blessed oil of rust removal [2s]
heap of 3 uncursed potions of poison [12s]
heap of 9 uncursed potions of cure poison [18s]
blessed potion of youth [4s]
heap of 3 uncursed potions of boost strength [6s]
heap of 3 uncursed berzio potions [6s]
heap of 4 uncursed potions of boost speed [8s]
heap of 2 uncursed potions of deafness [4s]
heap of 3 uncursed potions of insight [6s]
heap of 3 blessed potions of cure poison [6s]
heap of 2 blessed potions of booze [8s]
heap of 2 uncursed oils of rust removal [4s]
heap of 6 uncursed potions of wonder [12s]
heap of 20 potions of holy water [80s]
heap of 5 uncursed potions of boost mana [10s]
heap of 2 uncursed potions of extra healing [4s]
heap of 2 uncursed potions of boost charisma [4s]
heap of 6 uncursed potions of boost dexterity [12s]
heap of 4 uncursed potions of visibility [16s]
heap of 3 blessed potions of boost toughness [6s]
heap of 2 blessed potions of boost willpower [4s]
heap of 11 uncursed potions of ultra healing [22s]
blessed potion of invisibility [4s]
heap of 2 uncursed potions of sickness [4s]
blessed potion of wonder [2s]
uncursed potion of blindness [2s]
uncursed potion of cure corruption [2s]
cursed potion of boost perception [2s]
heap of 3 blessed potions of cure corruption [6s]
heap of 4 uncursed potions of raw mana [8s]
cursed potion of raw chaos [2s]
cursed potion of booze [4s]
uncursed potion of boost willpower [2s]
cursed potion of oil [2s]
uncursed potion of boost learning [2s]
blessed potion of troll blood [2s]

-Most of these I shouldn't have bothered to carry around. My
logic is "hey, maybe I'll want them for alchemy some day"
except that I didn't even wish for alchemy when I had the
chance. It usually turns out not to be worth the trouble,
especially when you're an elf and don't need extra potions
of youth or longevity

Scrolls ('?')
heap of 8 blessed scrolls of chaos resistance [16s]
heap of 10 uncursed scrolls of uncursing [20s]
heap of 8 blessed scrolls of uncursing [16s]
heap of 4 uncursed scrolls of charging [8s]
heap of 5 uncursed scrolls of balance [10s]
blessed scroll of familiar summoning [2s]
heap of 5 uncursed scrolls of teleportation [10s]
heap of 3 uncursed scrolls of item detection [6s]
heap of 9 uncursed scrolls of repair [18s]
heap of 23 uncursed scrolls of identify [46s]
heap of 6 blessed scrolls of identify [12s]
heap of 2 uncursed scrolls of luck [4s]
heap of 4 uncursed scrolls of vermin control [8s]
blessed scroll of charging [2s]
heap of 4 blessed scrolls of power [8s]
uncursed scroll of monster aggravation [2s]
heap of 3 uncursed scrolls of satiation [6s]
blessed scroll of increase melee damage [2s]
uncursed scroll of peace [2s]
heap of 5 uncursed scrolls of great identify [10s]
uncursed scroll of increase melee damage [2s]
uncursed scroll of danger [2s]
blessed scroll of danger [2s]

-More items found a little too late for an ultra. Meh, I never
wanted an ultra ending in the first place. Sometimes it's nice
to just play a casual gate-closing.

uncursed scroll of dark predictions [2s]
uncursed scroll of increase melee accuracy [2s]
heap of 3 uncursed scrolls of power [6s]
uncursed scroll of magic mapping [2s]
Food ('%')
heap of 4 uncursed lumps of gelee royal [12s]

-Heh, I forgot about these. And my friend was always telling
me to eat them... oh well. I guess my character will be just
a little uglier than she could have been.

heap of 114 uncursed cooked lizards [342s]
heap of 21 blessed spenseweeds [42s]
heap of 16 blessed stomafillia herbs [32s]
heap of 17 blessed stomacemptia herbs [34s]
heap of 13 uncursed stomacemptia herbs [26s]
heap of 12 uncursed stomafillia herbs [24s]
heap of 5 uncursed spenseweeds [10s]
blessed bit of gnomish candy [2s]
uncursed loaf of elven bread [3s]
Valuables ('$')
100000 gold pieces [1000s]
Gems ('*')
blessed crystal of fire [1s]
uncursed crystal of power [1s]
heap of 14 uncursed crystals of health [14s]
uncursed crystal of fire [1s]
cursed crystal of power [1s]
uncursed crystal of knowledge [1s]
blessed crystal of health [1s]


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Weapon Skills
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Melee weapon Lvl Hit Dam DV Level Required marks
--------------------- --- --- --- -- ------------- --------------
Unarmed fighting 1 +1 +0 +0 basic 12
Daggers & knives 1 +1 +0 +0 basic 34
Clubs & hammers 8 +6 +4 +2 excellent 476
Maces & flails 1 +1 +0 +0 basic 34
Swords 4 +3 +1 +1 skilled 142
Axes 9 +7 +6 +2 excellent 34
Whips 1 +1 +0 +1 basic 34
Pole arms 11 +12 +7 +14 Mastery 1163
Twohanded weapons 10 +10 +14 +4 excellent 2311
Staves 1 +1 +0 +1 basic 34

-Somewhere in the early game I must have found an axe and
a club that I really liked.

Missile weapon Lvl Hit Dam Ra Level Required marks
--------------------- --- --- --- -- ------------- --------------
Slings 4 +8 +6 +1 skilled 6
Bows 10 +20 +15 +3 excellent 579
Crossbows 7 +14 +10 +2 skilled 153
Thrown axes & hammers 0 +0 +0 +0 unskilled 10
Thrown daggers 0 +0 +0 +0 unskilled 10
Thrown rocks & clubs 0 +0 +0 +0 unskilled 10
Thrown spears 0 +0 +0 +0 unskilled 10
Boomerangs & scurgari 0 +0 +0 +0 unskilled 10

-I usually train bows and crossbows evenly. This time, the choice
for specialization was obvious.

Shields Lvl DV Level Required marks
--------------------- --- --- ------------- --------------
Shields 11 +22 Mastery 3507


Damage caused with your melee weapons:
--------------------------------------
Right hand: +139 bonus to hit, 3d20+75 damage

-Not to mention the critical hit chance. This rocked.


Damage caused with your missile weapons:
----------------------------------------
Ammunition: 93, base range: 18, +101 bonus to hit, 1d6+67 damage

-Not to mention the undead slaying. This also rocked.




----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Skills
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Backstabbing .............100 (superb) [+3d3]
Climbing .................100 (superb) [+1d5]
Concentration ............100 (superb) [+1d3]
Cooking .................. 75 (great) [+1d5] (ma)
Courage ..................100 (superb) [+1d3]
Detect traps ............. 88 (great) [+1]
Dodge .................... 85 (great) [+1d3]
Find weakness ............100 (superb) [+1]
First aid ................100 (superb) [+1d5]
Gardening ................ 96 (superb) [+1d5]
Haggling ................. 51 (good) [+1d5]
Healing ..................100 (superb) [+1d5]
Herbalism ................100 (superb) [+2d4]
Law ......................100 (superb) [+2d4]
Listening ................100 (superb) [+3d3]
Literacy .................100 (superb) [+1d5]
Metallurgy ............... 61 (good) [+1d5]
Pick pockets .............100 (superb) [+1d3]
Smithing .................100 (superb) [+1]
Stealth ..................100 (superb) [+2d4]
Survival ................. 98 (superb) [+2d4]
Swimming .................100 (superb) [+1d5]
Tactics ..................100 (superb) [+1]
Two weapon combat ........ 94 (superb) [+1]
Ventriloquism ............ 52 (good) [+1d3]
Woodcraft ................ 91 (superb) [+3d3]

-Meh, this did the job. Food preservation would have been nice
if I could have gotten it early. Find weakness was wished for, a
few other skills came from potions of education and were never
used.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Spells
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Acid Bolt : 1686, 14pp (Effectivity: +4)
Baptism of Fire : 1783, 4pp (Effectivity: +16)
Bless : 3224, 8pp (Effectivity: +2)
Calm Monster : 3255, 8pp (Effectivity: +2)
Cure Critical Wounds : 1797, 15pp (Effectivity: +0)
Cure Disease : 2856, 8pp (Effectivity: +2)
Cure Light Wounds : 2159, 5pp (Effectivity: +4)
Cure Serious Wounds : 3111, 10pp (Effectivity: +4)
Darkness : 5417, 4pp (Effectivity: +2)
Disarm Trap : 2237, 10pp (Effectivity: +3)
Dispel Undead : 3054, 7pp (Effectivity: +0)
Divine Digger : 605, 99pp (Effectivity: +7)
Divine Favour : 336, 250pp (Effectivity: +4)
Divine Key : 1386, 12pp (Effectivity: +2)
Divine Wrath : 4566, 9pp (Effectivity: +17)
Earthquake : 467, 80pp (Effectivity: +0)
Ethereal Bridge : 909, 20pp (Effectivity: +11)
Farsight : 1117, 16pp (Effectivity: +9)
Freezing Fury : 556, 25pp (Effectivity: +2)
Heal : 674, 40pp (Effectivity: +3)
Heavenly Fury : 481, 30pp (Effectivity: +0)
Hellish Flames : 2228, 7pp (Effectivity: +14)
Holy Awe : 2295, 12pp (Effectivity: +0)
Invoked Devastation : 548, 27pp (Effectivity: +3)
Know Alignment : 3345, 10pp (Effectivity: +2)
Knowledge of the Ancients: 553, 40pp (Effectivity: +0)
Light : 3467, 1pp (Effectivity: +10)
Lordly Might : 1087, 9pp (Effectivity: +5)
Minor Punishment : 840, 5pp (Effectivity: +12)
Nether Bolt : 1835, 10pp (Effectivity: +9)
Neutralize Poison : 1607, 10pp (Effectivity: +0)
Petrification : 1789, 120pp (Effectivity: +0)
Rain of Sorrow : 396, 35pp (Effectivity: +2)
Remove Curse : 1953, 49pp (Effectivity: +5)
Revelation : 1546, 32pp (Effectivity: +5)
Seal of the Spheres : 1852, 8pp (Effectivity: +3)
Slow Monster : 1406, 7pp (Effectivity: +0)
Slow Poison : 4984, 5pp (Effectivity: +5)
Summon Monsters : 705, 30pp (Effectivity: +0)
Web : 770, 12pp (Effectivity: +0)

-Again, this did the job. I never had high enough willpower to
really exploit ball spells, and I don't like their item destruction
anyway (I'm a little anal about that), and I also prefer to train
melee and range weapons instead of building up effectivity
in a bolt spell that's ultimately going to kill me when I
shoot it the wrong direction in a hallway.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Her further life:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

After she leaves the Drakalor Chain she is welcomed by her people with great
honors. They acknowledge her noble deeds, her valor, her cunning and her
great skills that helped to prevent the complete destruction of the world
she knows. She is crowned to be the queen of all high elves and lives a long
and prosperous life full of love, happiness and pleasure.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Her achievements during her adventures:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hippie, the high elven druid, saved the world with her brave efforts and
became a great ruler while saving herself 12 times.
She scored 26825996 points and advanced to level 50.
She survived for 0 years, 78 days, 4 hours, 55 minutes and 49 seconds
(146031 turns).
Hippie visited 147 places.
Her strength score was modified by +21 during her career.
Her learning score was modified by +12 during her career.
Her willpower score was modified by +23 during her career.
Her dexterity score was modified by +16 during her career.
Her toughness score was modified by +31 during her career.
Her charisma score was modified by +7 during her career.
Her appearance score was modified by +7 during her career.
Her mana score was modified by +23 during her career.
Her perception score was modified by +19 during her career.

-From level 25 and on I found only 2 potions of gain attributes.
This is all from herb training, specific potions, etc.

She was the champion of the arena.
She was a member of the thieves guild.
She made a little water dragon very happy.
She killed the emperor of the ancient minotaur race.
She defeated the arch enemy of a mighty karmic wyrm.
She adhered to the principles of the Cat Lord and thus rose to great fame.
She stopped the generation of nasty bugs.
She left the Drakalor Chain after completing her quest and became a great
leader and famous heroine.
6254 monsters perished under her attacks.
The following 29 artifacts were generated during her adventure:
the si
the dwarven rune axe "Rolf's Companion"
the scythe of corruption "Moon Sickle"
the ring of the master cat
the golden gladius "Death's Sting"
the elven long bow "Sun's Messenger"
the Chaos Orb of Elemental Water
the Chaos Orb of Elemental Air
the Chaos Orb of Elemental Fire
the Chaos Orb of Elemental Earth
the lead-filled mace "Big Punch"
the rune-covered trident
the sword of Nonnak
the elemental gauntlets
the ring of the High Kings
the crown of science
the ancient mummy wrapping
the ankh
the black torc
the Chaos Orb of Elemental Mana
the black rune-covered dagger "Needle"
the black rune-covered dagger "Sting"
the rune-covered sling "Whirlwind"
the robes of resistance
the staff of the archmagi
the medium obsidian shield "Protector"
the weird tome
the rune-covered halberd "Wyrmlance"
the axe of the minotaur emperor

-Pretty short list eh? Aside from randomly finding Wyrmlance
somewhere early, and finding the robes of resistance and
staff of the archmagi in a greater vault, no other random artifacts
were generated (aside from those times where one is guaranteed -
precrowning, uselessness, crowning)

-And oh yeah, the weird tome is in that list. I forgot to mention
that I did the library: after the casino, before the bug temple. It's
funny how you're less likely to remember something if everything
goes right - I got the weird tome after 2000 turns just how you'd expect.
Also, thanks to my superb packing skills (and the very limited set
of tools I brought along) absolutely nothing was broken in the fall.

She possessed the following intrinsics:
She was fire resistant.
She was poison resistant.
She was lucky.
Fate smiled upon her (enhanced through an item).
She was able to control teleportation.

-It's hard to get this intrinsic if you're a druid. Especially if you're
a lawful druid. Even more so if you're a lawful druid without food
preservation. I was using rings and amulets of teleport control
until the very late game, when a pair of hostile blink dogs happened
to show up (and when I happened to have arrows of hunting).

She was shock resistant.
She was able to see invisible things (gained through an item).
She was immune to shock attacks.
She was immune to fire attacks (gained through an item).
She was immune to acidic attacks.
She was immune to ice attacks.

-Three natural immunities. Not bad, eh? The shock
immunity is a druid power, the ice immunity is a crowning gift,
and the acid immunity is because, somehow, a druid without
food preservation managed to get a corpse from one of the three
hostile slugs in Keethrax's dungeon.

She was able to resist confusion attacks (gained through an item).
She had the following talents: Alert, Basher, Beast of Burden, Careful,
Charged, Defensive Fighter, Dodger, Good Shot, Keen Shot, Long Stride,
Master Packager, Miser, Porter, Potent Aura, Quick, Quick Shot, Sixth Sense,
Treasure Hunter.

-I planned these just a little bit more carefully than I usually do. Quick
shot and dodger seemed like good talents to work towards.

She had a final speed score of 132 (final base speed: 126).
She was a fervent follower of Corellius.
She asked for 1 divine intervention.

-I prefer to take care of myself instead of counting on gods to help.
I wonder if that's a creeping influence of my atheism.

She was a holy champion of Order.

The following monsters were vanquished:

//snip - not much to look at here, except:

1 assassin prince
-I killed this guy, not for any specific reason, but because I thought
"Meh, the cave is there, might as well murder everything in it." Somehow,
this is still construed by the game as being a lawful action. I could go off
on a tangent about the ethical peculiarities in this game but that may be
best left for another day.

4 blink dogs
-I guess I killed two earlier in the game, without any luck.

181 chaos servants
-I did a good job of keeping this number down, this game. They were no
trouble.

1 cloaked ratling
-Ha, that's funny. I don't remember this at all.

3 giant slugs
-I think I remember seeing somewhere that without food preservation or
weapons of hunting the chance of getting a corpse out of these is 1%.
I got one.

1 greater titan
-In another great action-hero-esque moment, I heard this guy stomping
about as I was about to leave the mana temple level. I went back, and
dropped him with two arrows of giant slaying - one for each eye.

6 gremlins
-Hey look at that! Look who actually didn't scum gremlins for once!

56 magedoom eyes
-I found a bunch of these in a room in a deep cavernous level.
They were actually the hardest-hitting monsters I faced in melee in the
whole game (though I improved my armour after that).



I've finished this game at least ten times now. In fact, I've finished once for every race, and always with different classes. Way back in highschool, after some practice that I got by savescumming, I closed the gate legitimately with a dwarven paladin. Over the next few years I closed it again with a dark elven wizard, with a gnomish weaponsmith, and with a drakeling monk. Then, after reading up on ultra endings, I finished a ULE with a human archer (man, I wish he could have had this bow), a UNE with an orcish priest, a UCG with a hurthling bard (you can never guess who will turn out to be evil) and an OCG with a troll barbarian. Finally, I went back to simple gate closing with a gray elven mindcrafter, and just now with a high elven druid. I also have faint memories of playing with a high level merchant, and another bard, or maybe a farmer, but I can't be sure... it's been too long, and I've made too many characters that have died and been forgotten.

So, what's up with the thread title? Well, it's complicated. It's also pretty simple. Adom tells a story. It's a good story, I'll give it that. Each character has a story, and I feel compelled to bring these tales to their endings; when I realized that I had a promising character who had been sitting all alone for such a long time, I felt that I owed her a conclusion. (If I didn't have any current characters, I probably would have randomly generated something, gotten bored, and killed it off, and you wouldn't have ever heard from me again.) But, the thing is, while the stories are interesting, and have their own unique twists, they're always the same story... and it just doesn't do much for me anymore.

I admire how all of you can find new challenges, and new ways to play this game together, so many years later. But I want something wholly new, and I'm sure that many former Adom community regulars would agree with this sentiment. The funny thing is that I frequent a Doom community - a game even older than Adom. But, the difference is that the Doom engine is open source, and editing tools have existed for it from almost the very beginning; in essence, instead of being forced to appreciate the same old story, the players are free to create their own, and to share them with others. Thousands of such stories exist. This has spoiled me. A new story told in the mode of the original game is many times more powerful than a story told in a fanfics forum. Allowing people to modify your game makes it immortal. Adom is not.

Adom is dead for me, but I wish you all well. If TB isn't planning on opening the source for JADE, then hope that he creates some modding tools at the very least.
The following is a real Adom message:

The homunculus hits you. You suddenly fall asleep! Do you want to continue to read the spellbook of Calm Monster? [y/N]
Portrait
gut
Registered user
Painted this one too.


Last page view:

4869 days, 6 hours, 32 minutes and 22 seconds ago.
Posted on Monday, December 08, 2008 at 16:17 (GMT -5)

I understand a bit of what you're saying. I
started playing ADOM years ago, beat the game a
few dozen times, and quit. For a while : ) The
thing about ADOM, is that one day, out of the
blue, you will start playing it again. Not every
game is like that. I can't even begin to think of
all the games I used to like, but wouldn't bother
touching again. To be honest though, if I had not
gotten interested in these forums the last time I
started playing, I would have quit again by now.

Put me in the 'fool filter', where I belong!
Portrait
Soirana
Registered user
Chaos Freak


Last page view:

4121 days, 9 hours, 32 minutes and 17 seconds ago.
Posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 14:57 (GMT -5)

Nice to see some guys coming back from hibernation:)
A root is a flower that disdains fame.
Kahlil Gibran(1883-1931)
Some guy
Registered user
I'm baaaack.


Last page view:

5575 days, 2 hours, 47 minutes and 13 seconds ago.
Posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 17:31 (GMT -5)

Yeah you guys are right. I probably won't ever escape.
The following is a real Adom message:

The homunculus hits you. You suddenly fall asleep! Do you want to continue to read the spellbook of Calm Monster? [y/N]
Darren Grey
Registered user

Last page view:

4211 days, 4 hours, 15 minutes and 26 seconds ago.
Posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 18:00 (GMT -5)

One of us, one of us...
Waldenbrook, the dwarven shopkeeper, mumbles: "I'd offer 9 gold pieces for yer dwarven child corpse."
Portrait
Maelstrom
Registered user
The Knight of the Black Rose


Last page view:

3088 days, 23 hours, 44 minutes and 38 seconds ago.
Posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 18:34 (GMT -5)

Wow, I'm so tempted to write "tl;dr", but I did read the whole thing :P

You will never escape. Ever. None of us will.
A pessimist sees a dark tunnel.
An optimist sees a light at the end of that tunnel.
A realist sees a train.
And the train driver sees three idiots on the tracks.
Silfir
Registered user
Writer of Overly Long Guides


Last page view:

4040 days, 4 hours, 57 minutes and 36 seconds ago.
Posted on Tuesday, December 09, 2008 at 20:42 (GMT -5)

I will complete an ultra ending one day. I say this in the knowledge that I haven't seriously played ADOM for months.

Yet ADOM can't be left behind forever. It leaves its imprint in the minds of hearts of any who play it, and it will always give one something to return to. One day I will be caught up in the web again for good...
You drop the golden ball.
You kick the golden ball. It slides to the west.
Suddenly Harry Potter, the apprentice wizard, appears! "That's not how you play Quidditch! are you even listening?"
Which direction? (123456789) 4
Harry Potter, the apprentice wizard, is hit by a bolt of acid! Harry Potter, the apprentice wizard, is annihilated.
You hear the ecstatic cries of a large crowd!
Some guy
Registered user
I'm baaaack.


Last page view:

5575 days, 2 hours, 47 minutes and 13 seconds ago.
Posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 17:27 (GMT -5)

Writing tl;dr would be very appropriate. What it really all breaks down to is: I still really enjoy Adom gameplay. I just wish there were more games with Adom gameplay. I've played this one so many times that now every step of the game is predictable and routine. Clearing D:50 this time just felt like a chore, and that's not how it's supposed to feel. Jade should be fun and different from game to game, but if the story elements are just randomly assembled then I won't feel very compelled to get to the end of that game either. I guess this thread is all a not-very-thinly veiled demand for a source code release or modding tools, because I think that some of us could take Adom's existing elements, and with them, make a new interesting story somewhere outside of that darned mountain chain.

Or, maybe all I want is a recommendation for another Adom-like roguelike. One with special dungeon areas (like towns, temples) special characters, dungeon permanence (you can leave areas and come back to them) and a plot. Roguelikes that are just 100 levels of randomly generated nonsense bore me to death.

Or maybe I should forget about all this stuff and get some work done.
The following is a real Adom message:

The homunculus hits you. You suddenly fall asleep! Do you want to continue to read the spellbook of Calm Monster? [y/N]
Portrait
gut
Registered user
Painted this one too.


Last page view:

4869 days, 6 hours, 32 minutes and 22 seconds ago.
Posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2008 at 22:42 (GMT -5)

Over at the adom.de (rest in peace?) boards, we
actually 'modded' a few levels using AdomBot. I
even made one myself, it was for the 'devine
finger' challenge that Soirana was trying. The
save files should still be posted there if you
want to have a look (HA!). It was a lot of trouble
for little gain though, so I prolly won't do that
again : )

As for other roguelikes, the only one I can
stomache is SS CRAWL. It is actively maintained
and has the most fun magic system of any
roguelike. It doesn't have ADOM's story and
depth though, it's only dungeons.

Put me in the 'fool filter', where I belong!
Portrait
Soirana
Registered user
Chaos Freak


Last page view:

4121 days, 9 hours, 32 minutes and 17 seconds ago.
Posted on Thursday, December 11, 2008 at 02:37 (GMT -5)

I know this is eretic thought but I actually had idea of making full mode.

Unluckily AdomBNot would not be enough and you know word of creator...
A root is a flower that disdains fame.
Kahlil Gibran(1883-1931)
MiHaiLoo
Unregistered user
Posted on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 23:29 (GMT -5)

About 'dead' ADoM... I personally teached 3 of my friends to play it in last 1,5 years. And I made 2 small (about 6 hours each) live-action RPGs about it - about 50 persons were involved, surely many of them started to play it after that lRPGs (theoretically they were supposed to play it before the game %)...).

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